The AAPS Journal, an official journal of The American Association of Physicians and Surgeons, has published a study by a number of physicians, including Dr. Stewart Tankersley from Alabama, who have grown in prominence for their COVID-19 vaccine skepticism.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have recommended COVID-19 vaccination is recommended for all people aged six months and older. This includes people who are pregnant, breastfeeding, trying to get pregnant now, or those who might become pregnant in the future. This also includes infants ages six months and older born to people who were vaccinated or had a COVID-19 infection before or during pregnancy.
This new study raises concerns about the CDC’s recommendation that the COVID-19 vaccine should be given to pregnant women.
The authors used data collected by the U.S. government’s Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) about adverse events (AEs) after COVID-19 vaccines experienced by women of reproductive age, focusing on pregnancy and menstruation.
The authors looked at the proportional reporting ratio comparing AEs reported after COVID-19 vaccines with those reported after influenza vaccines. They found that adverse events were significantly increased (≥ 2.0) for the COVID-19 vaccine for menstrual abnormality, miscarriage, fetal chromosomal abnormalities, fetal malformation, fetal cystic hygroma, fetal cardiac disorders, fetal cardiac arrest, fetal arrhythmias, fetal vascular malperfusion, fetal growth abnormalities, abnormal fetal surveillance, placental thrombosis, fetal death/stillbirth, low amniotic fluid, preeclampsia, premature delivery, preterm premature rupture of membrane, and premature baby death.
The authors claim that their analysis shows that when normalized by time available, doses given, or the number of persons vaccinated, all COVID-19 vaccine AEs far exceed the safety signal on all recognized thresholds.
The authors claim that these results necessitate a worldwide moratorium on the use of COVID-19 vaccines in pregnancy.
Historically, a vaccine is subjected to an average of 10-12 years in clinical trials before it is authorized to be administered to the general population. Because COVID-19 appeared to be a global pandemic with the ability to shut down the global economy, the development and testing of the COVID-19 vaccine was compressed substantially. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) response to the COVID-19 global weeks after only a few months of trials. The vaccine was developed using experimental m-RNA techniques and approved in November 2020 – less than a year after COVID-19 was first identified in China. Since approval VAERS meanwhile has been gathering data about adverse events post vaccinations.
Doctors were frustrated in 2020 because there were no accepted treatments for the illness. Public health authorities were eager to authorize a vaccine as a strategy for ending the pandemic. 12.07 billion doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been given globally in the last two and a half years. Over 5 billion people have gotten at least one shot of the COVID-19 vaccine, including 260 million Americans.
This study chose to use the influenza vaccine as the control group because the CDC first approved influenza vaccines for pregnant women in 1997. The authors compared AE data, comparing 282 months of data for the Influenza vaccine with 18 months of data for the COVID-19 vaccines.
Based on a high-volume obstetrical practice over 43 years, a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist and maternal-fetal medicine physician (JAT) chose AEs of interest from the VAERS database that are most relevant to fertility and reproductive physiology.
The authors state that their findings align with a British government study that found that sufficient reassurance of the safe use of the vaccine in pregnant women cannot be provided at present and that healthcare professionals should be advised to rule out known or suspected pregnancy and that women who are breastfeeding should also not be vaccinated. The World Council of Health has also called for a ban on the COVID-19 vaccines in pregnancy and lactation.
The authors claim that multiple researchers worldwide document reductions in birthrates following the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines. There are studies showing a 20% drop in Hungary, a 7% drop in Sweden, a 13% drop in Germany, and a 23% drop in Taiwan. Observational studies from around the world are consistent with declining fertility, and increased pregnancy.
According to the authors, the U.S. baseline fetal death rate is 5.84 per 1000 births and has minimal variance. The rate dropped from the 2017–2019 aggregate of 5.83 to 5.74 in 2020 despite the COVID-19 caseload. Interestingly the rate of stillbirth in the U.S. surged to 29.3/1000 in July 2021 and August 2022. This rise in stillbirth from 5.8/1000 to 29.3/1000 represents 40 standard deviations above the baseline. There is similar data in Canada.
The authors claim that a recent large-scale study indicates that pregnant patients are at lower risk for mortality and severe outcomes than non-pregnant patients for COVID-19 infections and that there are now early treatments for COVID-19 with vitamins, supplements, and repurposed drugs that are safe and effective, especially when started early in the COVID-19 disease process.
The authors believe that the U.S. government policy of continuing to promote COVID-19 vaccinations and boosters in all groups, including pregnant women, is erroneous.
The authors that this study supports the recommendations of the UK’s Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and the World Council of Health against COVID-19 vaccination and boosters for pregnant and lactating women. They also call for the administration of COVID-19 vaccines in women of reproductive age be halted immediately until these safety signals can be fully investigated.
The authors include James A. Thorp, M.D.; Claire Rogers, M.S.P.A.S., P.A.-C, a physician assistant; Michael P. Deskevich, Ph.D.; Stewart Tankersley, M.D., who practices family medicine in Montgomery and is a retired colonel in the Army National Guard; Albert Benavides, B.S., an RCM expert and data analyst & auditor.; Megan D. Redshaw, J.D., is an attorney and investigative journalist; Peter A. McCullough, M.D., M.P.H.
This is just one study. An adverse event post-vaccination is simply an event post-vaccination and may not necessarily be related to the vaccination. Readers are cautioned not to make healthcare decisions based solely on this article or any other article in the popular press. Instead, please make any healthcare decisions in consultation with your physician.
COVID-19 is a condition first identified in Wuhan, China, in late 2019. It is caused by a coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. 6,820,879 people globally, including 1,151,778 Americans and 21,091 Alabamians have died from COVID-19.
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